Woman Scorned
by mssilenthorse
Summary: Cody has upset a woman, How will she handle things? A comical one shot


A cloud of dust crawled across the desert floor as the sun beamed its heat onto the two riders. Lou pushed her hat off her head to wipe the sweat away. She watched as Cody stared off into the distance.

"What is it Cody?" She asked reaching for her canteen as they pulled their horses to a stop.

Cody didn't answer immediately which concerned Lou. They were in Indian country.

"Cody, what..." she asked but stopped when Cody's finger flew to his lips. He pointed in the direction of a shimmering reflection on the desert landscape. Lou had come through here a time or two and never seen it before. Cody reined his horse in the direction of the reflection that was near a strand of trees in the distance and Lou followed with one hand on her gun.

As they approached the trees Cody stopped his horse and jumped off. He walked to a tree a saw a small mirror tied to the branch with a blue ribbon. Lou walked over to him, she saw the confused look on his face. She took a step toward him and felt something hit the back of her head.

"What the ..." she heard Cody say the words before darkness overtook her.

Lou could hear birds chirping as she regained consciousness. Her eyes fluttered before opening. She blinked to focus her eyes. She could feel the hard bark of the tree she was against and tried to get up before realizing her hands were bound infront of her and another rope was around her waist holding her tightly against the tree. She could hear Cody calling her name.

"Cody!" she said with a shaky voice.

"Lou, are you okay?" Cody asked but Lou couldn't see him. He sounded like he was right infront of her.

"LOU?" he yelled, this time she could hear the concern in his voice.

"Cody, where are you? Can you untie me?" she asked struggling with the ropes.

"Uhmm .. No. I can't help ya there" He said

"What do you mean? Where are you?" She asked wiggling around the side of the tree to see where the voice was coming from. "OH. MY. GOD." She blinked to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing. Cody's head was laying on the ground in front of her. His hat perched precariously on top. Actually she realized he was buried up to his head in the desert sand. "You care to explain this, Cody?" she asked with a small laugh. Cody closed his eyes regretting the ribbing he was going to get if the others found out about this.

"Lou, you gotta promise not to say anything to the others about this." He pleaded

Although the situation a bit scary she laughed at him. "Are you serious? I am so gonna let them know all about this."

Lou straightened when she saw movement in the trees. She watched as the shadow moved closer to Cody and she could see who it was and laughed again. "Alexandra Forrest"

Alexandra was a beautiful woman with steel grey eyes and honey colored hair. She had a smile that could make any man conform to her every whim. But Cody had brought out the worse in her. You could look at her and tell she was one apple short of a pie. The corner of her eye twitched like a crazy person.

"Hi Lou; I wasn't expecting you to be with him on his run. You boys usually ride alone." Alexandra said, her voice sweet as honey. Lou was glad Alexandra still thought she was a boy; she was a bit confused about a few things though, she would get answers from Cody,one way or another.

Alexandra knelt down near Cody's head but looked at Lou "Do you think I'm pretty, Lou?"

'Pretty crazy' Lou thought but smiled and answered "Sure you are."

"Well Billy here doesn't think so." Alexandra said standing up and walking back into the trees.

Alexandra watched from the trees as Cody struggled to get free. She thought about how sweet Cody had been, when he had asked her to next weeks dance. Then it happened. She watched as Lou fought her restraints and tried to get Cody to talk. "Lou is a small boy but he is feisty" She thought as she listened to them.

"Cody what have you done?" Lou growled at him. She leaned her head back against the tree and closed her eyes.

"Look Lou, I 'm not sure what I did to upset her but..." Cody started.

Lou pulled her head up and looked at him "UPSET! Cody I am tied to tree and you are.. buried up to your neck. I'd say she is a bit more then upset."

Cody thought for a minute trying to figure out what had upset Alexandra "Well Lou, now, I might have forgotten I had already invited her to the upcoming dance when I asked her sister to the same dance…. Right In front of her" Cody suddenly remembered, making Lou groan.

"Cody. I swear if I had my gun I would shoot you myself." Lou said through gritted teeth

Buck sat on the bunkhouse porch reading a book when he saw Cody's and Lou's horses trot into the station. He stepped off the porch and approached the horses, rubbing a hand down the flank of Lou's horse. "Where did you guys come from?" The horse whinnied at him. He examined both horses for injuries. He knew the route they had taken was right through Indian country. He hope they had not met with Indian trouble. Buck may not be able to help them. He took a deep breath, saddled his horse and followed their tracks.

Lou heard a rustling sound come from the trees to her right. She was expecting Alexandra to come out of the thicket but instead it was a skunk. The animal sniffed at the ground and walked toward Cody.

"uhm.. Cody…" Lou said with a bit of humor in her voice.

"Yes Lou?" Cody asked a bit sarcastically until he saw the skunk walking toward him. "No, no. Go away Mister Skunk."

"Cody it may be a girl skunk. You're not having very good luck with females right now." She chuckled as the skunk inched its way closer to Cody.

It stopped mere inches from Cody's face. They were nose to nose and eye to eye. Cody swallowed hard and heard Lou laughing "Yeah, laugh it up Lou. This ain't funny."

Lou tried to control her laughter as she said "Just be glad it ain't the other end."

Cody did not find the situation funny and tried to move his head away from the skunk. His nose was itchy and he had to sneeze. He tried to hold it in so he wouldn't scare the skunk but it was no use. "AAACCHOO" he felt his hat fall off. When he opened his eyes he saw that his had landed on the skunk and the animal was not happy. It was making a growling sound and Cody watched as the hat seemed to move on its own as the skunk was in a frenzy to get it off.

Lou had laughed so hard her side was aching and now she watched as the terrified animal under the hat scrambled closer to Cody. She heard him say a word she wouldn't repeat.

The hat moved in a circle and spun around as the growling and hissing continued. The skunk was mad and frightened and Cody knew what happened when skunks got agitated. A horrible squeal came from under the hat and Lou held her breath. Cody braced himself as he watched the hat flip over and the skunk appeared. It turned and before Cody could react it sprayed the hat and Cody's face.

Lou couldn't restrain the laughter any longer as it burst loose and the tears rolled down her cheeks. "I reckon you won't be going to the dance with either lady, smelling like that." She tried to catch her breath but the sour look on Cody's face made her laugh even harder.

Alexandra walked back out of the trees and flinched at the smell that lingered in the air. She looked down at Cody "You deserved that… and much more." She turned to leave but stopped when she heard the sound of a horse approaching.

Buck couldn't believe the site that laid before him. He dismounted and tipped his hat to Miss Forrest. Her hands folded in front of her. He saw Cody's head sticking out of the ground and tried to hide his laugh. Lou was tied to a tree and he could tell she had been laughing. He stepped closer to Alexandra. . "Do I smell a skunk? Wait never mind that's just Cody's normal smell, right Lou." Buck said winking at Lou as Cody got huffy.

"Miss Forrest, I..uhh… don't know what Cody has done, but if you'll allow me to take Lou, you can do what ever you want to Cody." Buck said with a slight smile.

Cody protested "Buck, you can't leave me here. Buck."

Alexandra nodded. " You can take Lou, I have no need for him. But Billy stays." Her voice was as thick as molasses in winter.

Buck smiled and walked to Lou and pulled his knife out of its sheath. "You seem to be enjoying this way too much" he chuckled as he cut the last rope.

Lou took a deep breath and said "I haven't laughed this hard in a long time."

"I am glad you're laughing at all this, but could you get me outta here, PLEASE." Cody begged

Buck walked around Cody's head as Lou followed him. "Before I go Miss Forrest would you like me to show you a quick scalping technique you can use on Cody." He said with a laugh.

"BUCK." Cody Yelled as he watched Buck vault onto the horse then extend his hand to Lou and pulled her on to the horse behind him.

Buck tipped his hat again to Miss Forrest and nudged the horse into a gallop.

"BUCK.!" Cody yelled again as Buck and Lou rode off laughing. He watched until they disappeared on the horizon. Alexandra knelt down and trying to avoid as much of the smell as she could said "Now it's just me…and you." She stood and walked into the trees leaving Cody alone.

Back at the bunkhouse, Lou was telling the tale of what happened. Jimmy and Ike were on the bench on the other side of the table. Emma sat beside Lou and Buck, Kid was on his bunk and Teaspoon leaned back in his chair tipping it back on two legs. "…then he sneezed and his hat fell onto the skunk.." She tried to stop her laughter as she spoke "That got the skunk mad, you should of heard the growling and the hissing."

Ike's eyes were watering as his shoulders shook in silent laughter, Jimmy was laughing and hitting the table. "Then the skunk slipped outta the hat and sprayed Cody …and the hat.. " Lou couldn't resist the laughter another minute as the others laughter was contagious. Kid fell out of his bunk from laughing so hard which made everyone laugh louder and Teaspoon laughed so hard he lost his balance and the chair crashed back to the floor. Emma wiped her hands across her eyes and chuckled at the story.

Just then the door swung open and there stood the instigator of their laughter. Cody looked like he had been through hell and back and smelled even worse.

Everybody covered their noses and gasped for breathable air "How do we get rid of the smell." Jimmy asked still laughing and fanning the air in front of him.

Buck smiled and said "My people would just make him sleep in the rain 'til the smell was gone." More laughter floated through the bunk house. Emma tried to stop laughing as she stared at Cody standing in the doorway looking like a wounded puppy as he started to walk inside.

Emma stood up. "Oh no you don't mister. OUT!" she shooed him out and yelled back at Jimmy who was holding his nose. "Jimmy go me some tomatoes."

"How many Emma?"

"All of them." Emma replied snickering.

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><p><strong>AN: Just thought you all could use a laugh. Hope you all enjoyed this little oneshot.**


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